Comparison

Runestone Text Editor vs hob mobile

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Runestone Text Editor

A powerful plain text and code editor for iPhone and iPad. Offers syntax highlighting, line numbers, find and replace, and extensive customization options for developers and writers.

Highlights
  • Syntax highlighting for many languages
  • Customizable themes and fonts
  • Advanced find and replace
  • Line numbers and cursor location
  • Code formatting with Prettier.js
  • Multiple windows on iPad
Features
Read full description

A plain text editor with syntax highlighting, line numbers, search and replace, page guide, and much more. It's like TextEdit but more powerful and optimised for iPhone and iPad. Runestone is made by a single person with a love for text editors and a vision of building the most lightweight text editor for iPhone and iPad that still has the core features for editing code. Features: - Syntax highlighting of many languages including HTML, JavaScript, JSON, Markdown, Swift, Python, PHP, YAML, and many more. - Select one of the twelve standard themes including popular themes like Tomorrow, Dracula, Solarized, and One Dark Pro. - Innovative find and replace for searching and modifying text while still viewing your file. - Choose font and font size, including support for custom fonts imported using another third-party app. - Show the line and column the cursor is located on. - Uses the standard document browser for an experience similar to the Files app. - Quickly navigate to a specific line. - Automatically close opening brackets and quotes. - Multiple windows on the iPad. - Format code using Prettier.js. Supported languages include CSS,HTML, JavaScript, JSON, PHP and more. - Choose text encoding between popular encodings like UTF-8, UTF-16, ISO Latin 1, and many more. - Enable or disable autocorrection, autocapitalization, and smart punctuation. - Set default file extension of new files. - Open files in Runestone from the Share Sheet. - Print documents. Premium features: - Choose between eight app icons. - Show line numbers. - Highlight the selected line. - Increase line height and letter spacing. - Disable line wrapping to allow horizontal scrolling. - Show tabs, spaces, and line breaks using a selected symbol. - Enable page guide at a specific column to easily tell when lines are getting too long. - Add vertical and horizontal overscroll. - Remember the selected language per file. - Save file extensions and filenames that should always be treated as plain text files. - Enable soft tabs and choose the width of the tab character. - Specify whether pressing the tab key should insert a tab or indent the line. - Adjust the scaling of Markdown headings and disable highlighting of code blocks in Markdown. Runestone was built on the open-source framework with the same name. Find more information on the Runestone framework at github.com/simonbs/runestone

About

hob mobile

Features
Read full description

hob mobile is the phone companion to hob, the professional workspace for your whole agent stack. Manage your agents, reply to them, and approve their work when you are away from your desk. Requires hob on your computer (macOS, Windows, or Linux). Get it at hob.dev. MANAGE YOUR AGENTS FROM ANYWHERE Your agents keep running on your computer. See every project and every agent. The inbox shows which agents are working, which need your attention, and which finished work is waiting for review. REPLY BY VOICE OR TEXT Read the full conversation with each agent. Send the next instruction by typing, or record a voice message. APPROVE WITHOUT GOING BACK TO YOUR DESK When an agent asks a question or needs permission, answer it from your phone and the agent continues. START A NEW AGENT IN SECONDS Pick a project and a model, describe the task, and the agent starts on your computer. GET NOTIFIED WHEN AN AGENT IS DONE Get a notification when an agent finishes its turn, waits for your approval, or reports an error. Tap it to open that agent. RUN COMMANDS ON YOUR COMPUTER Open your terminals and run commands from your phone. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Pair your phone by scanning a QR code in hob, then approve the device once on your computer. Connect on your local network, or over the internet through the hob relay. hob never opens ports on your computer to the public internet. With hob mobile, you can: • See all your agents and projects in one inbox • Reply by voice or text • Answer questions and approve requests • Start new agents • Get notified when agents finish or need you • Run commands in your terminals Works with the agents you already use in hob, such as Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode. ——— Privacy Policy: https://hob.dev/privacy © 2026 SmartAppsCo LLC

Screenshots

Runestone Text Editor4 screens
hob mobile4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: hob mobile at none against Runestone Text Editor's 1. Runestone Text Editor's advantage is chart position (#38 vs unranked) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, ads and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Runestone Text Editor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. hob mobile asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Runestone Text Editor versus hob mobile: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRunestone Text Editorhob mobile
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (2.1K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews76.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2.1K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#38 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size64 MB46 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperSimon B. StøvringSmartAppsCo LLC

Bugs and requests

Runestone Text Editor

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Disappearing files
  • Difficulty pasting text
  • Scroll position not saved
  • Hangs on startup
  • Trouble opening large files
Show 1 more
  • Issues after iOS updates

Requested features

6 requests
  • Markdown preview
  • Code folding
  • Syntax highlighting for more languages
  • Ability to run/execute code
  • Multiple file/window support
Show 1 more
  • Improved undo/redo functionality

hob mobile

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Runestone Text Editor

One-time1
  • Premium$9.99
None

hob mobile

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Runestone Text Editor free?
Runestone Text Editor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is hob mobile free?
hob mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Runestone Text Editor or hob mobile have ads?
Neither Runestone Text Editor nor hob mobile shows ads.

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